Serqet na Pathanri, owner and sole proprietor of Congruent Assembly, was reconciling invoices when a mail notice flashed in the corner of her ocular's field of vision. She recognized the sender as a merchant of her acquaintance and opened it: Sister! Friend! You can procure a prosperous and rewarding future with your gift… It was a request for a donation to the Temple of the Goddess of Commerce.
Her mandibles clacked together in annoyance and she dismissed the message with a curt gesture from her foreleg.
The Sphex had brought the ritual trappings of their ancient religion with them when they had emigrated to Earth more than two hundred years ago, one of the first of the waves of colonization that had reinvigorated an exhausted and depleted planet. It was a rather amorphous and byzantine religion, having absorbed and integrated all of its competing creeds ages ago on the Sphex home world. As far as Serqet knew no one actually believed in its frankly ludicrous and convoluted pantheon. Mostly, her people merely paid lip service to the old traditions as a purely civic matter—occasionally a few who wanted to demonstrate a slightly higher than average cultural zeal would make a grand show of donating a sacrifice to one of the temples once or twice a year.
Serqet found even such perfunctory customs a distasteful waste of time and money. Congruent Assembly was the largest, most prestigious company of its kind in the Commonwealth, and she had built it with her talent, hard work and her skill in navigating the sometimes thorny intercultural relationships between the various species that lived there—not by indulging in quaint superstitions.
She brought the last quarter's sales figures back up and had barely settled back into the numbingly comfortable routine of bookkeeping when one of her workers ran breathlessly into the office. He stood quivering before her, waiting for her acknowledgement.
"Yes, ah..." His name instantly flickered on her ocular. "…Memet?" She had difficulty keeping all of them straight in her mind. She recalled Memet was one of the more intelligent ones, although he was given to a sometimes tiring over-eagerness.
"Clients, mistress! Humans! Door says they are very powerful!"
"Humans?" Her antennae flicked in mild interest. Earth still sustained a modest human population, but only those living in the Asian archipelago were wealthy enough to afford Serqet's services, and they rarely traveled outside their domed cities to this side of the globe.
"Thank you, Memet. Inform the others that they can stop their maintenance chores for now." Memet, beaming from his mistress' recognition, dashed from the office to tell his fellow workers. It wouldn't do to have the small, high-strung males constantly underfoot while trying to conduct business.
Door would have already admitted the humans into the foyer; where they waited in comfort amidst fountains, decorative sculptures and soothing music and where they were scanned and diligently watched over by various weapon systems. Serqet put a different ocular on one of her other secondary eyes. "Tell me about these customers, Door."
"They are two baseline humans, a female and a male," said the door system. "They are carrying normal levels and species of commensal microbes. They have no physical augmentations but are carrying moderate personal weaponry and several technological items I am unable to identify."
An inventory began to scroll across her vision. In addition to translators, the humans each carried rudimentary AIs and were networked with a more powerful system located some distance away. Their clothing concealed various armaments, of a limited and mundane nature. The unknown items were more intriguing. They seemed to either generate or be powered by exotic energies that triggered a series of hyperlinks on the ocular—all leading to esoteric research papers that were full of impenetrable scientific jargon concerning the theoretical possibilities of time travel.
Serqet's interest deepened. Rumors of the appearance of time travellers were rife throughout the Commonwealth, especially among the mercantile classes. Stories of mysterious travellers, always human, buying up artifacts, commodities and artwork sprouted and spread quicker than the authorities could stamp them out.
The odd thing was that, as far as anyone knew, in all the long centuries of earth's history—through all the successive human empires, wars, ecological disasters and waves of extraterrestrial immigration and settlement—no one had ever been able to make a time machine. So where were all these travellers coming from?
There were theories and supposition, of course; multiple universes, forking time streams and other possibilities equally abstruse and unprovable. The important point, to Serqet's mind, was that the stories about the time travellers all agreed on one important detail: they were immensely, extravagantly wealthy.
She rose from her desk and left her office. "Let them in, Door."
The humans were already on the salesroom floor when Serqet entered. She raised her front arms in an expansive greeting. "Welcome to Congruent Assembly. Please forgive the regrettable delay. How may I serve you?"
The humans scrutinized the showroom with purposely mild interest. "We're looking for a gift," said one, leaning over to idly run a gloved finger over the sleek chassis of a surveillance drone, as if testing for dust. The ocular helpfully labeled her as the female. They appeared nearly indistinguishable to Serqet, save for minor differences related to their exotic reproductive processes. Their clothing was virtually identical as well and an odd mixture of archaic styles. The cloaks wrapped over their shoulders were still damp from the morning drizzle outside.
"For our daughter," added the male. "Something in the security line, we were thinking."
"Of course," said Serqet. "We are privileged to supply autonomous protection to many in positions of import, both in the political and private sphere." She tapped the bracelet on one of her segmented arms and a robot unfolded itself from the wall, twin gun pods at the ready as it stalked forward and halted. "We recently furnished one of these Amaryllis-class units to the son of the ambassador to the Transvaal Republic."
"No, no," the female sniffed. "Nothing like that. We're looking for something organic."
"Yes, I see." Serqet quickly dismissed the mech and led the humans past the robotic section of the showroom. "You prefer a defensive organism. A bodyguard."
"Lethal but loyal," the male said. His eyes narrowed as he peered down the row of enclosures and habitats in the biologic section. "We were led to understand that you're the best in the business. Is this your entire stock?"
"Oh, no," Serqet explained. "Although we have the most extensive selection anywhere in the Commonwealth, the majority of our sales are custom orders requiring extensive mechanical and genetic engineering done off-site by our exclusive contractors. This is but a sample of the almost limitless possibilities that—"
"Ha! Look at this brute Stacey!" the male gestured to large ape-like biped that glared from its enclosure, its massive fists nearly brushing the floor. "Mighty Joe Young…only blue! What do you think...?"
The female sighed. "Dale, please. We're not shopping for you." She turned to Serqet. "What else do you have? Something not so hulking. This will be for a young girl. A coming of age gift. We want something more...companionable."
"As far as body plans go, our catalog is very extensive," Serqet said. She poised a digit above her bracelet. "Ah. This companion…would you require it to perform sexual services as well?"
Both of the humans' expressions changed instantly to a mixture of disgust and anger. Serqet cursed herself silently. She had obviously stepped inadvertently into some cultural taboo and she felt the sale crumbling from her grasp.
"Of course not!" the female snapped, crossing her arms and glaring. "We want get her a pet! Not a...not a boyfriend!"
"A thousand pardons," Serqet quickly apologized. "I misinterpreted your term 'companion'...allow me..." She hurriedly tapped her bracelet. Something decidedly not humanoid, she thought, to get their minds off her faux-pas. An arachnid that stood about knee-height to the humans skittered forward.
"No," the female said flatly. "She hates spiders."
"Of course." Serqet jabbed nervously at the bracelet, sending the creature back to its habitat. "If you will follow…" She proceeded to show the humans half a dozen more possibilities, but the female remained glowering while the male seemed to lose all interest. Finally, Serqet asked with what she hoped was well-disguised desperation, "If...ah, if I may inquire, what does she like?"
The male had turned away and was tapping at the enclosure of a tentacled aquaculture worker. "She likes dinosaurs," he said offhandedly.
The female looked at him with a puzzled frown. "She does?"
"And pigs."
"Ugh," the female grimaced. "Dinosaur it is, I suppose. But nothing too big. Maybe something like one of those noisy screeching things from that movie…What were they called, Dale?"
"Hmm? Oh, raptors." The ocular flashed out a few possible interpretations of the word.
"Ah, velociraptor, you mean!" Relief flooded through Serqet. "Yes, we have that sequence in our inventory." She quickly ushered the humans towards a simulation dais as she fed instructions through her bracelet.
Lights flickered on the dais and then coalesced into a small theropod, its head jerking with quick, bird-like movements. Serqet looked expectantly at the humans, but their dissatisfaction was evident.
"That's much too small," the female complained.
"And what are all those gaudy feathers? It looks like an attack chicken." The male held his hand level with his head. "We need something about yay tall."
"Of course, all our organisms are fully engineered," Serqet explained. "So we have no need to be limited by the actual paleontological record." As she tapped her controller, the simulated dinosaur grew in size, its feathers shrinking down to smooth scales.
"Now that's more like it!" The male's excited grin lifted Serqet's mood. "Look at those bloody big claws, Stacey! That'll make someone think twice about tangling with our little girl!"
"And we can increase the tensile strength of the talons above normal levels as well."
"Mmmm, I don't know," the female said. "Now I'm thinking it looks too mean. What if she doesn't like it?"
Serqet felt the sale tottering again. That was the trouble with multiple customers; the interplay became too complicated, the clients often reinforcing each other's doubts. She quickly scrolled traits that humans found appealing in pets through her ocular and then punched a few variables into the simulation.
The dinosaur's snout shrank slightly; its head and especially its eyes grew larger. On a whim, Serqet made the simulation cock its head attentively.
"Kind of cute," the male grudgingly chuckled.
"Not sure about the color," said the female. Serqet altered the animal's pattern until the female said, "Stop. The blue, I think. Yes, that's rather nice."
"Now as to technological enhancement…Various ballistic weapons can be implanted—"
"That won't be necessary," the female said with a thin smile. "We will be providing all the technology our daughter will require."
"As you wish." Serqet bowed slightly. "The animal will obey spoken commands from whomever you specify. You will of course have complete override control. We can also add limited telepathic control as well."
"For an extra charge, I suppose?" said the male, walking around the simulation.
"It does require extensive neural reengineering," Serqet explained. "But we will naturally strive to deliver whatever you can afford." Both of the humans looked at her with pointed expressions and Serqet added hastily, "Of course, some of our more…discerning clientele insist on a more comprehensive means of control."
When the humans didn't respond, Serqet continued: "A total empathic connection. The animal and its owner share a mental bond. If your daughter is anxious, distressed or in pain, the animal will feel it. Absolute loyalty that cannot be broken. It will gladly lay down its own life for her."
Serqet's mandibles formed the equivalent of a smile. "We call it the Platinum Package."
"Right," said the female. "How much for everything?"
This was, of course, sometimes the most delicate part of the sale. Among some of the cultures Serqet had dealt with, haggling was almost a religious rite. Others would take a price pitched too high as a personal insult. And then there were those rumors about the fabulous wealth of time travelers to consider. She fed a total that was only moderately exorbitant into her bracelet.
She handed a small flexible screen, with an itemized, notated list of all the included features to the humans. The female took it, and the male looked over her shoulder. He made a whistling sound with his lips that the ocular helpfully translated for Serqet.
The female gave the screen to the male, who made a show of perusing it again. He stroked the patch of hair on his chin and shook his head. "Hmmm...What's this endonuclease disposal charge?"
Meanwhile, the female was consulting an ornate pocket watch. She snapped the timepiece shut and slid it back into her waistcoat. "Just pay her, Dale. You promised we could go to the nautilus races before we leave."
"Ah, the nautilus races!" Serqet enthused. "The American Inland Sea is particularly scenic this time of year."
The male sighed resignedly. "Of course, dear."
"If you will give me your credit device, I will be happy to facilitate transfer of the funds," Serqet said. The humans exchanged a glance. The male hooked his thumbs in his belt and looked at Serqet with a serious expression.
"We would prefer payment in physical form. We understand precious jewels such as diamonds are still in use as a form of currency in your city-state."
"Ah, this is true...in some of the more disreputable sectors." Serqet looked back and forth between the humans. "However, we choose to keep transactions strictly electronic. The authorities frown on anonymous payments. The paperwork—"
"Still, that's what we would prefer," the male said, with the trace of a smile.
"I'm sorry, it is quite impossible," Serqet said firmly. She was annoyed that these humans would think of her business as the equivalent of one of those squalid black-market bazaars in the Outer Colonies that dealt with under-the-table transactions and pirated wetware.
The female produced a small silvery ovoid from her cloak. Its surface shimmered, as if it wasn't entirely solid, and the ocular flagged it as one of the unknown devices it had detected earlier. Serqet felt her irritation flare into anger. This was an unconscionable breach of commercial etiquette. Could they really be so arrogant as to threaten her? Surely they were aware of her defenses.
"I must warn you," she said sternly, "the authorities of the Commonwealth take a dim view of any breach of the peace. And any attempted violence against me or my establishment will be immediately met with lethal retaliation."
The female human said simply: "Dale."
With a sudden rush the male dashed forward, his arm jabbing upwards as a ceramic spike slipped from his sleeve into his gloved hand. He plunged the small spear into one of Serqet's primary eyes. She reared back, just as a deafening roar jarred her entire body and the world spun into incoherence.
There was no pain. In an instant, everything lurched into focus again. Both humans were now standing several meters in front of her, just as they had moments before. The male hooked his thumbs in his belt and looked at Serqet with a serious expression.
"We would prefer payment in physical form. We understand precious jewels such as diamonds are still in use as a form of currency in your city-state."
Serqet faltered, swaying as the wave of disorientation passed. She cautiously lifted one of her forelegs, letting a single segmented finger brush lightly over the curved surface of her eye. It was intact and undamaged. The humans watched and waited.
"That…would be acceptable," Serqet said carefully. The female slid the small device back into the folds of her cloak.
"Excellent!" The male produced a small black bag and hefted it in one hand, as if weighing it. "We've checked with your local monetary exchange; at today's rates this should be a bit more than double what you requested. A little something extra for your trouble." He tossed the bag and Serqet fumblingly caught it.
"We believe in honoring our obligations," the female said. "But we won't be trifled with."
Before Serqet could respond, the male clapped and rubbed his hands together and asked jocularly, "Now then, when can we pick up our dinosaur?"
"When...? Let me..." Serqet tapped at the bracelet. Her ocular flickered, scrolling gibberish. The device seemed to be rebooting from being knocked off-line. She ran scheduling frantically through her mind. Normally two weeks for recombination and decanting, three or four for the accelerated growth. How many for the neurological mods? What if the engineers were delayed by some logistical problem?
"Would...ah...nine weeks be acceptable?" she asked.
The female smiled. "Oh, there's no need to rush on our account. The length of time isn't really relevant. We just need a date. So let's say...precisely twelve weeks from today."
Serqet was about to respond in agreement but realized that her consent wasn't a factor. The female had already turned away and began to walk towards the entrance. "Come along Dale," she said over her shoulder. "We don't want to miss those races."
"Pleasure doing business with you," the male said, with what Serqet was astonished to realize was sincerity.
"We may have some other jobs for you in the future." He paused and then smiled. "As long as this dinosaur lives up to its advertising, of course!" He also didn't wait for a reply and followed the female off the sales floor. The door closed behind them with a hiss.
Serqet felt herself slump with relief. The quiet murmuring of the various environmental systems, normally almost inaudible, became distinct in the abrupt silence.
It was several moments before she went back to her office and sat down behind her desk, her thoughts still grappling with what had happened. Such an extravagant, vulgar display of power. And for what? A demonstration?
She opened the pouch and let a few dozen of the diamonds spill out onto her desk. She idly pushed the gems about, watching the play of tiny prismatic refractions. Undoubtedly stolen, she thought sullenly. Hopefully from someone long-dead, a few centuries in the past and in a now non-existent jurisdiction.
Or…A stray thought bloomed alarmingly. What if they stole these diamonds from her, in the future, and brought them back to pay her today…
"Stop," she hissed aloud to herself, her triangular head shaking in displeasure. Time travel. She was letting her thoughts run away from her, feeding her paranoia.
Still. One of her many sisters ran an export company that dealt occasionally with the Antarctic Hegemony, where controls on currency exchange—and the diligence of the authorities—were much more lax than the Commonwealth. It would be expedient to get the gems out her possession as quickly as possible. Her sister would of course take a percentage off the top but that couldn't be helped; in any case, Serqet would still be making a substantial profit.
"Mistress? Was the transaction agreeable?"
The voice of the worker broke her reverie. She hadn't even noticed him entering her office. He stood before her desk, nervously watching her. Though their faculties were limited, they were highly attuned to her moods and infecting them with her doubts could affect their work for days. She glanced at the ocular for his name, but the device was still stubbornly running self-diagnostics. He was one of the more clever ones, she recalled.
"Yes, very profitable," she told him, as brightly as possible. "You may tell the others to resume their tasks."
She watched the drone run off happily and for a moment almost envied him.
She turned her attention back to the gems and her brooding thoughts. This was going to be anxious twelve weeks, with constant, increasingly apprehensive checking on the progress of the various engineers and sub-contractors. She feared she would have little sleep until the animal was delivered and safely out of her hands.
We may have some other jobs for you in the future. Serqet shuddered and swept the diamonds back into the pouch. Perhaps a sacrifice to the Goddess wouldn't be entirely imprudent.